"Stalled" Reviews/Discussion - 2014 Horror Challenge: Day 1
 

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Re: "Stalled" Reviews/Discussion - 2014 Horror Challenge: Day 1
 

I enjoyed Stalled much more than I expected too; one of the better more interesting recent zombie movies (of which there aren't many). One thing that stood out to me for some reason was the good use of sound editing, a lot of nice auditory cues.

It made effective use of a limited setting/budget but "stalled" some in the middle (around the dance hallucination, which was clever). The Heather character's death seems nonsensical disrupting the film but it was a good idea for him to be talking with a picture he drew for most of it. Toilet paper armor would definitely not work that way, suspended disbelief broken again. Although flawed hopefully Stalled gets more attention.

Best Christmas movie ever?

Re: "Stalled" Reviews/Discussion - 2014 Horror Challenge: Day 1
 

Glad one person's liked it so far :)

I was a little obsessed with this film last year - I talked about it on here, but I mostly hassled the hell out of my own forum to the point that everyone got sick of me :D I saw it 3 times in cinema last year (FrightFest in Aug, Grimmfest in Oct, Q&A in Nov) and rewatched it again this August.

While it's not perfect and I know some people will hate it, what I loved about it was how fresh it was, how it didn't abuse its angle and it didn't really take the easy way out of toilet humour. The film is purely from the point of view from the lead character, so we're trapped in the toilet with him (which I really liked) and it uses every little detail of its limited location. I thought Dan Palmer was a really likable and strong lead as well. I'm not a huge fan of the second character who comes along - though she has some funny lines, I find her slightly forced and some of the scenes a bit overly soppy. Overall though, I think it's funny, with a fun (but not overdone) bit of gore and something unique in the zombie genre.

Re: "Stalled" Reviews/Discussion - 2014 Horror Challenge: Day 1
 

At best this film was okay, and I don't have the urge to gouge out my eyes after seeing this. The film fails to hook the audience and pull them into the story. I must have missed the humor in the film, and thought most of the humor was forced which I felt insulted my intelligence half the time. Maybe its the fact we're trapped in the stall with this clown that I found to be rather dull and delusional. There are so many things wrong with this film, but on the other hand there are things that I liked about the film. Film worth boasting about? Maybe if you were a part of making it, and wanted to draw attention to it then yes, but it could also be an embarrassment. A viewer such as myself it's worth a single viewing and nothing more

Re: "Stalled" Reviews/Discussion - 2014 Horror Challenge: Day 1
 

What's worse than a horror movie that isn't frightening? A comedy movie that isn't funny.

Stalled was neither.

Now, I get that comedy is particularly subjective, I really do, but the none of these gags worked out for me at all. Since it was the humor that didn't appeal to me, I'm not going to go to lengths to explain why this movie didn't click.

1/5.

Re: "Stalled" Reviews/Discussion - 2014 Horror Challenge: Day 1
 

I had a pretty good time and watched this with my Dad. We enjoyed the perverse humor. Sure, I kind of wished the whole thing were a bit more polished. The direction and performances drag down the wittier potential of the script at times. But I had a huge grin on my face when a gag worked particularly well (tampons, anyone?). Let's face it, there have been too many humdrum and forgettable zombie comedies. I liked this far more than some of early ones like Fido and that musical one, which I've forgotten the name of.

Pleasant surprise for me overall, as I'm kind of iffy when it comes to horror comedy. I think this is a cool subset pick to get the party started. Loved the Xmas party idea, too. Nice little scene post-credits, so be sure to stick around for one more gag. This had some invention to it and was more than a one gag flick. I would have no trouble recommending this as a party flick. 6.3/10

Re: "Stalled" Reviews/Discussion - 2014 Horror Challenge: Day 1
 

So I loved the dance scene, but right after, did I miss something? How did Heather know that the main character steal from his boss, stole her phone, and all those other things? It was a nice movie to kill time, but not something I would tell my friends about or buy. But I do give major props to the dance scene.

Re: "Stalled" Reviews/Discussion - 2014 Horror Challenge: Day 1
 

I imagine he blurbed about it as he was tripping.

Re: "Stalled" Reviews/Discussion - 2014 Horror Challenge: Day 1
 

I'm more in league with just about all of this post. I had a good enough time with this...Considering (At first glance) that the concept might have made for a great short-fim, but more and more wit succeeded in making this full-length feature successful.

I admit, the "Charlie bit me" gag was a nice twist and, man, was that the most longest post-credits sequence made yet?

Thanks for the pick, Sparky!

Re: "Stalled" Reviews/Discussion - 2014 Horror Challenge: Day 1
 

Not a bad average zombie flick, thanks for the recommendation mightysparks! I do wish it had a tad more zombie sequences than talking but not a bad way to pass the time. Love the last line of the movie too "I need a toilet" that had me laughing.

Re: "Stalled" Reviews/Discussion - 2014 Horror Challenge: Day 1
 

I loved the premise and it was well-made; but the jokes were mostly misses for me.

Might give it another try someday, as it really looked like something I'd love.

Re: "Stalled" Reviews/Discussion - 2014 Horror Challenge: Day 1
 

Anyone else think that that was the Angry Video Game Nerd in the poster above?

Also in the scene after the credits this line would have killed

Re: "Stalled" Reviews/Discussion - 2014 Horror Challenge: Day 1
 

I can't say that Stalled impressed me much. There were a few moments of tension, and the old "rat in the toilet" gag worked on me the first time that the filmmakers used it, but overall I found the film to be pretty boring. I particularly disliked the way that the drawing of "Heather" was shown, over and over and over, as her voice was heard coming from the other stall. Yeah, we get it. (Sorry, Cow--I know that you said you liked that, but it was overkill for me. I'll agree with you on the sound design, though--although I would have liked for Heather's voice to have been a bit clearer.)

I also didn't like the dance number at ALL. It took me right out of the film. Curse you, John Landis and "Thriller"!

My final analysis: while I didn't feel outright hatred for the film, I certainly won't be recommending it to anyone. I do have one caveat, though--I thought that the score was good-bordering-on-great.

Re: "Stalled" Reviews/Discussion - 2014 Horror Challenge: Day 1
 

There was even one moment

where he looked just like James Rolfe.

Re: "Stalled" Reviews/Discussion - 2014 Horror Challenge: Day 1
 

Totally agree with this. The movie tries so hard to be funny and it falls flat on its face at every turn. I found the main character quite annoying and just wanted him to die almost immediately. Little did I know that I would be stuck with him for the duration of the film. And the annoying voice in the other stall. I wanted her dead as fast as possible as well. It's bad when you want your main characters to die almost as quickly as they appear.

Maybe a better actor with a little more charm could have pulled off the main character but the gags were so bad that I highly doubt it.

Suspension of disbelief. You have to have this with most horror movies but this one took that to new extremes. The finger gags. The way the zombies are completely quiet and don't do anything (unless the story calls for them to)...which brings me to my next point/problem with the film. The story didn't move organically. Stuff would only happen if the screenwriter needed it to. Complete quiet in the stalls. Sure. Zombies making noise when they need to. Sure. Zombies completely quiet and ignoring the loud conversations going between the stalls. Sure. Zombies attack when something needs to happen because this movie is dragging ass. Sure.

Ugh. This movie was more annoying than anything else.

My rating: *1/2 out of *****

Re: "Stalled" Reviews/Discussion - 2014 Horror Challenge: Day 1
 

I agree with most of that.

I thought it was hilarious for the most part, slow in places and as a whole more "interesting" than "good" - but very enjoyable. I thought the crowd-surfing and zombie dance a particular highlight (although for sense's sake, I'm glad it didn't turn out to be 'real' as I feared the surfing initially was..!)

The limited setting would probably have been better used in a shorter film, because it did start to get awkwardly repetitive. I was also very underwhelmed by the lack of emotion apparent in "Evie"s voice through the whole thing - so overall it was probably best that she was an unseen character.

I also appreciated the undercutting of the Heroic Rescue with Jeff, and the problematic ending which with a lot of awkward plotting could spawn a sequel set in the phone booth: Hanging On, maybe?

Some good one-liners from the Gervais-y-but-NOT-Gervais main/only character offset the more awkward passages of dialogue.

A good start! :)

Re: "Stalled" Reviews/Discussion - 2014 Horror Challenge: Day 1
 

There was also a LOT of very-plot-convenient/contrived "she's watching to warn him"/"she's not watching to see that" moments. There was an initial suggestion that she was still on the toilet, which might have answered some of the confusions, but...

I imagine she saw him swipe her phone (didn't he find it on the floor?) and maybe it was known that "someone" stole the money (maybe even which someone) and she saw the note hanging out of the box? She would also have overheard the boss looking for his toolbox... maybe.

What bothered me was why they didn't even try to combine cubicles - but I assume the undead girl was in-between them, and it wasn't worth the risk (or something)?

Re: "Stalled" Reviews/Discussion - 2014 Horror Challenge: Day 1
 

The opening minutes of this movie were disconcerting. Low production value, a terribly dull and overlong opening credits sequence. We quickly learn that we have an unlikable lead and forced jump scares that fall flat, proving that this is a rather amateurish production...

Then the movie hits the 10 minute mark and two bikini-clad women start making out for no reason. This movie was brilliant.

Re: "Stalled" Reviews/Discussion - 2014 Horror Challenge: Day 1
 

Re: "Stalled" Reviews/Discussion - 2014 Horror Challenge: Day 1
 

It occurred to me that I hadn't commented about this movie. I wanted to like it, but overall, I wasn't a fan. I was really trying to go with it, but I reached a point about halfway through that I realized the film had just lost me and it never swayed me back to its side.

Then more and more things started bothering me. Like, if there really was someone in a stall next to him, how come we couldn't see her? Why would she only look through the small crack in the stall rather than stand up? Eventually, that was explained. Because she was fat, of course! And that seems as good of a reason as any to sacrifice yourself. -rolleyes-

And then there other moments that really didn't make any sense. The gif above my comment is a good example. The guy breaks through the door to save them, introduces himself, establishes himself as a bad ass, and then our relatively inept hero decides to shoot the last finger rather than just saying, "Hey, hit that button while you're standing right next to it." Moments like that just really bothered me and took me out of the movie enough to lose me.

Re: "Stalled" Reviews/Discussion - 2014 Horror Challenge: Day 1
 

I think he did that because the main character wanted to be the hero and win the "hot" girl. Dude was a jerk anyways, so that part makes sense.

Re: "Stalled" Reviews/Discussion - 2014 Horror Challenge: Day 1
 

Yeah, I can see that, but when you're in a life or death situation, just accept the help that's presented to you. Regardless, it just bothered me how long it took for him to shoot the last finger.

Re: "Stalled" Reviews/Discussion - 2014 Horror Challenge: Day 1
 

Yeah, he intentionally shot the guy because his "lady friend" was getting wet over "Jeff from IT" earlier and now he's here to steal his thunder. I made that gif because I thought that part was hilarious. :shrug:

Re: "Stalled" Reviews/Discussion - 2014 Horror Challenge: Day 1
 

I thought it was funny too. Ego's a big thing for people. Some people want to be the hero and save the day. Just wait until the zombies take over ;)

Re: "Stalled" Reviews/Discussion - 2014 Horror Challenge: Day 1
 

I strongly suspect that even in a life-or-death situation, many people make utterly the wrong decision for utterly the wrong reasons.

He also went for the money rather than the hammer, surely knowing full well (like the apocalypse bet) that money is useless if you're about to die.

Of course, this was a COMEDY. So many of the inept decisions were for comic effect. And, again, I suspect I know a few people who would act against their interests* even in a situation of near-certain death.




*There's probably an aside about politics, one about judging people on appearances, and several dozen other asides to be made here. People are often stupid..